Review of the Year 2017

Happy New Year!  Hope you've had a fab 2017 and are looking forward to a great 2018!

It was a bit of a slow start for me this year, but things have picked up as time has gone on.  In total I read 23 and about 2/3 books, so I wasn't far off my two-a-month target.  I got in a good mix of fact and fiction, some old and some new, so hopefully there was something of interest to you too.

My 2017 highlights have to be 'Pride & Prejudice' by Jane Austen and 'Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine' by Gail Honeyman - something old and something new, and both brilliant.

Looking forward, I'm conscious that I have a shelf of books people have kindly sent me and another of things that people have given to me as gifts.  I feel awful for being so rubbish at reading things promptly, so I'm going to try to start putting this right a bit in 2018.  I always warn people who pass me books that I really do have a lot to read already, but I'm fairly sure that some of my friends and family have forgotten that they've lent me some of these...

Another thing I hope to do is read more classics.  Yes, that again!  Following on from 'Pride & Prejudice', I would really like to read another Jane Austen novel (Twitter recommended 'Persuasion').  Having visited both Haworth and Hardy's birthplace just outside Dorchester, I'd also like to try 'Jane Eyre' and 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles'.  I may not get a chance, however, as if I don't read Dumas' 'The Count of Monte Cristo', I think a friend of mine might actually pop! 

(By the way, if I manage to catch up on some of the books I've been sent, I'm thinking of making 2019 a year of books people have recommended to me.  But ask me about that again in 12 months time!)

Finally, I'm desperate to know what happens to Ross Poldark and co. after the Earth shattering events of 'The Angry Tide'.  Hopefully I'll squeeze at least one more of the late Winston Graham's novels in next year. 'Stranger from the Sea' is book 8 of 12, though, so I need to pace myself!

So, let's hope I can keep up the momentum for 2018 and make it a fantastic year.  As always, thank you for joining me on my personal reading challenge and I hope you keep enjoying the blog.  May your own personal projects be as successful!

Right, let's get reading!

2017: A Year in Books

1. 'The Shogun's Queen' by Lesley Downer
2. 'The Flame Bearer' by Bernard Cornwell
3. 'Slip of the Keyboard' by Terry Pratchett
4. 'Ghoul Britannia' by Andrew Martin - A good read for ghost story fans and writers.
5. 'The White Princess' by Philippa Gregory
6. 'Devonshire Folk Tales' by Michael Dacre
7. 'The Angry Tide' by Winston Graham
8. 'It's Only a Movie' by Mark Kermode
9. 'A Life Discarded' by Alexander Masters
10. 'Shattered Love' by Richard Chamberlain - Disappointing.
11. 'Cinderella Ate My Daughter' by Peggy Orenstein
12. 'Discovering Scarfolk' by Richard Littler
13. 'Trigger Warning' by Neil Gaiman
14. 'He Said / She Said' by Erin Kelly
15. 'The Tent, the Bucket and Me' by Emma Kennedy (Audiobook) - Entertaining stories of family holidays gone wrong.
16. 'Trans: A Memoir' by Juliet Jacques - A moving, personal story.
17. 'Free: Adventures on the Margins of a Wasteful Society' by Katherine Hibbert
18. 'God Bless You, Mr Rosewater' by Kurt Vonnegut
19. 'Pride and Prejudice' by Jane Austen
20. 'Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine' by Gail Honeyman
21. 'How to Be Champion' by Sarah Millican
22. 'Little Me: My Life from A-Z' by Matt Lucas
23. 'Puckoon' by Spike Milligan